United Farm Workers (UFW)
The United Farm Workers (UFW) is a small but politically and socially active union representing agricultural workers in the western United States. The United Farm Workers attempts to increase farmworkers’ salaries, benefits, housing, and working conditions. Farmworkers—many of them illegal workers in the United States and legal immigrants who do not speak English and are not familiar with American labor laws—have historically been subject to the demands of agricultural employers. During World War II, the bracero program, an agreement between the United States and Mexico, began allowing farmworkers to come into the country temporarily as guest workers. After the war, many of them stayed in the United States.
In the 1940s–60s, several attempts were made to organize farmworkers. Ernesto Galarza led the National Farm Labor Union, representing U.S. workers, but was undermined by the use of bracero workers willing to work without union representation. In 1959 the powerful AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations) supported the creation of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC), an outgrowth of the Agricultural Workers Association founded by Dolores Huerta. Cesar Chavez, a young Chicano born in Yuma, Arizona, created the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) in 1962. The NFWA supported efforts to gain better wages for grape pickers in California. In 1965 the NFWA joined with the AWOC in a strike against grape farms in Delano, California, uniting Chicano and Filipino workers in an effort to get a $1.25 per hour wage. Chavez called for a consumer boycott of grapes without a union label, creating the first major national publicity for farmworkers. Supported by people involved in the civil rights movement of the 1960s, American consumers significantly reduced their purchases of table grapes. In 1966 Chavez led a march of workers through the agricultural valleys in California, gaining additional national attention and support and concession from one major grower to the union demands.
The UFW was created in 1966 by the merger of the NFWA and the AWOC. By 1970 the UFW had 50,000 dues-paying members. The union established a health clinic, credit union, cooperative, and hiring hall. At its peak in 1973, the United Farm Workers had more than 80,000 members, but membership declined to, at one point, only 5,000 workers. Farm-grower resistance to unions has continued, and changes in labor laws reduced the union’s role. The death of Cesar Chavez in 1993 left a void in the political and social connections that supported the union. In 2001 the United Farm Workers signed a contract with the country’s largest strawberry grower, giving 750 workers a 7 percent pay raise over three years and free medical and dental care, in addition to establishing a grievance and arbitration procedure for firings.
Further reading
DeArmond, Michelle. “UFW Signs Contract to Represent Strawberry Pickers,” SF Gate News, 8 March 2001; United Farm Workers website. Available on-line. URL: www.ufw.org.
United Farm Workers (UFW)
The United Farm Workers (UFW) is a small but politically and socially active union representing agricultural workers in the western United States. The United Farm Workers attempts to increase farmworkers’ salaries, benefits, housing, and working conditions. Farmworkers—many of them illegal workers in the United States and legal immigrants who do not speak English and are not familiar with American labor laws—have historically been subject to the demands of agricultural employers. During World War II, the bracero program, an agreement between the United States and Mexico, began allowing farmworkers to come into the country temporarily as guest workers. After the war, many of them stayed in the United States.
In the 1940s–60s, several attempts were made to organize farmworkers. Ernesto Galarza led the National Farm Labor Union, representing U.S. workers, but was undermined by the use of bracero workers willing to work without union representation. In 1959 the powerful AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations) supported the creation of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC), an outgrowth of the Agricultural Workers Association founded by Dolores Huerta. Cesar Chavez, a young Chicano born in Yuma, Arizona, created the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) in 1962. The NFWA supported efforts to gain better wages for grape pickers in California. In 1965 the NFWA joined with the AWOC in a strike against grape farms in Delano, California, uniting Chicano and Filipino workers in an effort to get a $1.25 per hour wage. Chavez called for a consumer boycott of grapes without a union label, creating the first major national publicity for farmworkers. Supported by people involved in the civil rights movement of the 1960s, American consumers significantly reduced their purchases of table grapes. In 1966 Chavez led a march of workers through the agricultural valleys in California, gaining additional national attention and support and concession from one major grower to the union demands.
The UFW was created in 1966 by the merger of the NFWA and the AWOC. By 1970 the UFW had 50,000 dues-paying members. The union established a health clinic, credit union, cooperative, and hiring hall. At its peak in 1973, the United Farm Workers had more than 80,000 members, but membership declined to, at one point, only 5,000 workers. Farm-grower resistance to unions has continued, and changes in labor laws reduced the union’s role. The death of Cesar Chavez in 1993 left a void in the political and social connections that supported the union. In 2001 the United Farm Workers signed a contract with the country’s largest strawberry grower, giving 750 workers a 7 percent pay raise over three years and free medical and dental care, in addition to establishing a grievance and arbitration procedure for firings.
Further reading
DeArmond, Michelle. “UFW Signs Contract to Represent Strawberry Pickers,” SF Gate News, 8 March 2001; United Farm Workers website. Available on-line. URL: www.ufw.org.